Monday, 29 February 2016

For the latest bonus round - Nautical - of the painting challenge I splashed out on a set of Victorian Divers from Foundry (actually, Casting Room Miniatures). It's a set I've had my eye on for some time, so I was pleased for the excuse to get and paint them up.

It seems I wasn't alone! Two other members of the challenge submitted figures from this pack - and completely outclassed me along the way!

Nevertheless, I'm quite pleased with them. They are nice, characterful figures that took quite nicely to paint.

To me, these divers bring up a couple of iconic images. The first is John Wayne and Ray Millard grappling with each other and battling a giant squid/octopus*

*SPOILER ALERT: It's often said that 'The Cowboys' was the first film in which Wayne was killed - not so, in 'Reap the Wild Wind' two divers go down to the wreck and only one returns!

But for me Herge will always be the master*, so I thought I would see what I could steal do by way of homage.

*No, not The Master - that's Roger Delgado

Sadly, my rushed photography in advance of the deadline hasn't done them justice*, but I think you get the idea that the Haddock has worked quite well. Tintin's quiff hasn't survived the diving helmet. I think he looks more like River Phoenix!

This is my 600th published post. Having posted about the death of Robert Audin yesterday has made me realise how much I have gained from blogging and how much I value the contacts I have made thereby. Thank you for your company and your comments. There may be prizes...

Tuesday, 23 February 2016

I think I suggested that Terrain Tuesdays might be quiet during the Analogue Painting Challenge, and it looked as if I might not have anything to report this week. All I could think of was of telling you that I'd finally eaten my Christmas pudding, and was eyeing up the packaging it came in.

And then I went to the charity shop...

550ml of gold sand

I don't know who buys gold sand by the half litre. I seriously considered it, but having only just for the first time used some of the red sand I bought two years ago for basing Martian characters, I thought better of if...

I did get a cardboard Sainte Chapelle though. It's 1:250, but I might be able to pretend it's a small mortuary chapel!

Old School

For several weeks I've resisted the building blocks. But no-one else seemed to want them...

As regular readers will know, I help out in one of the local charity shops.

We get stuff in that we know can get a decent price if exposed to the right people, but otherwise might sit on the shelves for ages. Well, in this case, you dear readers, are the right people (or know the right people).

We have here a mint on-the-sprue Chaos Daemons Soul Grinder. In anyone wants it for £15.00 plus postage (which in the UK will be £2,80), let me know and I will sort it out for you. The retail price of these in the order of £35-£40.

I won't be taking any commission on this - all the money will go to Relate (Norfolk and Suffolk). If anyone wants to offer more than £15.00, I'm fine with that! But this isn't an auction - first come, first served.

Friday, 19 February 2016

I recently painted the following treasure tokens, primarily for use in Frostgrave, but possibly also handy for Pulp settings.

They're produced by Ristul's Extraordinary Market (sold in the UK by Bad Squiddo Games). And are full of great details – magic swords, war hammers, potions, crowns, jewels and, above all, GOLD! And that's why I ended up submitting them the L'amour round of the Analogue Painting Challenge.

Like many others, I've found it a challenge to find suitable subjects for Curt's bonus rounds. Not that I think that should be a matter of complaint - I think a good deal of the fun in the rounds is in seeing how the participants justify their entries!

In my case it was because as I painted the tokens, the line "Give pounds and crowns and rubies*, but not your heart away" came to me.

When I Was One-and-Twenty

BY A. E. HOUSMAN

When I was one-and-twenty

I heard a wise man say,

“Give crowns and pounds and guineas

But not your heart away;

Give pearls away and rubies

But keep your fancy free.”

But I was one-and-twenty,

No use to talk to me.

When I was one-and-twenty

I heard him say again,

“The heart out of the bosom

Was never given in vain;

’Tis paid with sighs a plenty

And sold for endless rue.”

And I am two-and-twenty,

And oh, ’tis true, ’tis true.

*You will notice that my memory was only approximate!

So with the addition of a suitable fluff (which people seem to have enjoyed), that was my entry. Go and check it and the others out - and don't forget to vote for your favourites!

Tuesday, 16 February 2016

Nosferatu can be best described as NOT-Dracula. When the film was made (1921) a few details were changed to make it different from Bram Stoker's story - not enough though! In a very early example of intellectual property rights being applied to the cinema, Stoker's estate sued. The studio went bankrupt and all prints of the film were ordered to be destroyed. Fortunately some survived, and the film is now recognised as a masterpiece of German Expressionism as well as having provided some genre-defining images.

Max Schreck, 1921

Kinski, 1979

The film was remade by Werner Herzog in 1979 as Nosferatu the Vampyre, with Klaus Kinksi in the title role and there was even a very funny 'making-of' film Shadow of the Vampire made in 2000, featuring Jonn Makovich, Willem Dafoe and Eddie Izzard.

Defoe, 2000

These three films are among my wife's favourites, so when I spotted a pack of Nosferatu at a recent show I snapped it up. They're 28mm from West Wind and come as a pack of four (I've just realised that, and need to find the fourth!).

So, in true genre fashion, I've left the big reveal until quite late...

Wednesday, 10 February 2016

As contrary to my intentions my Painting Challenge submissions have had a distinct Dr Who theme* I needed to restock the lead pile. Accordingly, I bought these BTD figures when they came up on eBay.

*The Wife: "Are we ever going to get to play that Frostgrave game? Where are my wizards?"

Yetis

Ice Warriors

I didn't realise until I started priming them, but one of the Ice Lords has been converted, giving a variant. I may nominate him as a Grand Marshall or Supreme Lord.

Painting

The fillip that the Painting Challenge throws up worked its magic and the Yetis were soon painted,

I didn't want to go for the proper colours (which make me think of honey bears), but instead did a simple job, with dry-brushing in various shades of brown. They'll also do as generic furries in other games.

The 'proper' colour scheme

Patrick T gets in touch with his Inner Yeti

With the bases, I wanted to represent their origins in the wild Snowdonian Tibetan valleys. Not being able to find any rhododendron leaves to scale, I instead went for bleak tufts and heather.

And finally, I submitted one of the ever-popular Weeping Angels*. This was one of a bag of mixed figures I picked up in a charity shop. I think they were freebies with Doctor Who Monthly. The Angels were an odd soft plastic which didn't take paint particularly well. It left them quite sticky (which in hindsight made static grass a rather poor basing choice!)

* Only one of these three was started and completed during the challenge.

Monday, 8 February 2016

Sadly, my intention of submitting my Gurt Big Castle for the Defensive Terrain round of the Painting Challenge came to naught. However it is primed, so we might see it in future terrain updates.

First up this week is a nice resin piece that I got in a box set with some other terrain and snake-warriors. I really don't remember the manufacturer.

I've used it in the past in Lost World and Dino-Hunting games. But now need not feel worried about its resin-y nakedness.

Secondly, another ancient damaged statute. This time more Frostgrave-y.

The statute itself is one of the large plastic kit-figures that came with Doctor Who Adventures in Jan 2014 (oddly enough, they've got around to using them again for the current issue). The plinth I picked up more recently.

In other news...

My entry for the L'Amour bonus round of the challenge will feature terrain, so there's that to look forward to.